DISPATCHES FROM THE ARID LANDS

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Not all steps are equal

In trying to walk 10,000 steps a day for health, I have found there are steps and then there are moderate steps. Both are OK. Moderate is better.

That’s what I like about my Omron digital pedometer. It measures both.

Moderate steps, says about.com quoting from a Canadian study, improve aerobic fitness and reduces systolic blood pressure (the upper number in a BP reading). The study also found non-moderate steps can burn the same amount of calories and reduce “fasting” blood glucose and cholesterol.’

A moderate step is normal walking speed or one taken at a brisk pace. That comes to 2.5 mph to 3.4 mph, according to my pedometer’s instruction manual. Shuffling around the house won’t count as moderate steps.

Anyone who has ridden a treadmill knows that 2.5 mph is an easy pace for most, that 4 mph is slow jog and that 6 mph is running.

Since we began a walking program this year, Nebra and I have take more than 1.4 million total steps. Of those about 60 percent, or three in five, have been moderate ones.

I refuse to get manic about this walking thing. I don’t intend to overdo it. And at times I resent the time away from reading books and writing. I started the program in September of last year, and it quickly became a part of my daily routine.

[For a record of my daily, monthly and yearly step count, see the Walking page.]